Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

Clock surrounded by gilt-bronze sculptures of flowers, two babies, and doves

Reading List: Explore Frick Artists Online

While the Frick Art Research Library is closed for renovations, explore a list of e-books and other online resources from the library that offer deep dives into a wide range of artists and artworks from the Frick’s permanent collection.

Man in a fedora stands in front of furniture and a wall with sconces and a framed portrait

The Frick's Velázquez in "The Maltese Falcon"

Christopher Snow Hopkins, Associate Editor, examines the appearance of the Frick’s King Philip IV of Spain by Diego Velázquez in the classic film The Maltese Falcon—a tantalizing cameo that has not been commented upon before.

Oil painting of virgin and child in garden

Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery

November 5, 2014 to February 1, 2015

From November 5, 2014, through February 1, 2015, the Frick presented ten masterpieces of painting from the Scottish National Gallery. The museum, one of the finest in the world, is distinguished for its holdings of works by the greatest masters of Western art and for its comprehensive collection of Scottish art. The exhibition featured paintings from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries that invite illuminating comparisons to the Frick's permanent collection.

Painting of portrait of king philip IV of Spain dressed in the silver-and-rose costume holding staff and broad-brimmed black hat

Velázquez in New York Museums

November 16, 1999 to January 30, 2000

To mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660), The Frick Collection brought together for the first time six of the Spanish master’s portraits belonging to public collections in New York.

Oil painting of a man in red coat, holding a white stick and black hat.

The King at War: Velázquez's Portrait of Philip IV

October 26, 2010 to January 23, 2011

Painted at the height of Velázquez's career, the Frick's King Philip IV of Spain (1644) is one of the artist's consummate achievements. Contemporary chronicles as well as bills and invoices in Spanish archives indicate that it was painted in a makeshift studio only a few miles from the frontlines of a battle, and that it was completed in just three sittings. The work, which shows its subject dressed in military costume, an atypical depiction, was sent to Madrid where it was used during a victory celebration.